Dolphin and their daily itinerary

Charlotte takes a dip

Dolphins have their habits too. Just as we wake up in the morning, have a pee, take breakfast and brush our teeths, dolphins travel the same itinerary at the approximate same hour every day. For a spectator standing in our bay this means the pod usually appears either at around 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. from the north moving south (+ or - 1 h).

We have been trying to figure out what stretch of coast they cover. We know for a fact that the group has not been observed at hotels up north or further south. Either people did not watch carefully or the dolphins really aren´t there. 

We have observed the pod turn into the open or arrive from the open waters repeatedly. Adults dolphins, often groups of strong males, hunt far away from the coast. The female dolphins with their calves prefer to stay close to the coast where it is safer. Sharks, one of the rare enemies of dolphins, need deeper water. There is also less risk of getting caught up in the fishing net of a trawler.

In irregular intervals this habit changes. 

One of these occasions is the yearly dolphins gathering. Other dolphin pods meet up with our local group. At one point last year there must have been 60 or 70 dolphins in our bay. It is the mating occasion. Several male dolphins fight over single females, and really pester them. They jump, race and show off. They join together to create mega pods.

At these occasions they also hunt together, creating circles or cylinders of dozens of dolphins that trap swarms of fish. We observed on circle with a diameter of ca 50m just off our bay. You could see one dolphin after another dive down to take his share.

When different pods meet they usually move together and leave their own territory for a day or more.

After the big dolphin encounter last year our pods weren´t seen for a week.

Yesterday´s visit of external dolphins broke the habit of our local pod again. They had moved way down the coast. So instead of arriving from the north as usual, today at around 11 a.m. our pod came from the south. It was one group of approximately 12 dolphins. The direction of the wind had changed so this time it pushed us with the pod up north. Charlotte and I had a hard time rowing back.

The same pod returned at around 2 p.m. to move south. They must have hit their turning point up the next bay. Looking at the map the dolphins cover a stretch of coast that does not extend 30 km.